Despite having sold in excess of 80 million albums, being a four time Guinness world record holder and having an asteroid named after him, Jean-Michel Jarre has never quite received the critical respect he deserves. Patrick Ryder introduces 10 tracks from across a visionary career that has singularly helped shape modern electronic music.

Words: Patrick Ryder

While contemporaries like Moroder and Vangelis have been embraced by a
new generation, remembered as pushing their genres forward whilst
delivering a series of classics, Jarre hasn’t had a sniff at a tour with
any robots or a lavish reissue. Maybe his chart success and fondness
for the extravagant is too populist and proggy for the hive mind of
music journalists, still romanticising the underground ‘realism’ of punk
and post-punk. But as a household name for thirty years, should that
matter?

In fact, unusually for an artist who’s shipped such a staggering
number of units, Jarre has spent a career in step with the beat of his
own drum, ignoring trends, pushing the envelope (and every other
function invented for a synthesiser) and living entirely out front, on
his own terms. And what’s keeping it real if not staying true to exactly
who you are? What’s more, he’s produced some of the most sublime
electronic music ever recorded, covering new age, ambient, white funk
and techno, all with the same trademark symphonic genius. Off the back
of a series of collaborative releases featuring Massive Attack’s 3D, Tangerine Dream and Gesaffelstein, here’s a primer into the beguiling world of Jean-Michel Jarre.

You can listen to all ten tracks in this playlist or individually as you scroll.

A modest start to the grandiose career which would follow, Jarre’s
debut LP garnered limited exposure and still remains one for the
die-hards to this day. Even in the context of library music Deserted Palace
makes for a challenging listen, compromising mostly of strange synth
experiments, discordant tones and skewed fx. However, amid those
fragments of detuned synthesis and musique concrète, this seven minute
piece offered a glimpse of the shimmering, symphonic compositions ahead.

1973 saw a twenty five year old Jarre following in his father’s
footsteps, applying his innate understanding of tone, timbre and texture
to his first cinematic score. This instrumental arrangement of the main
theme for Jean Chapot’s film of the same name recontextualizes the
baroque flourishes and gothic mood of classical orchestration within an
eerie, disconnected modernity. Underpinned by a buzzing rhythm and
unruly sequences, Jarre’s gloomy organ motif perfectly mirrors the
disquiet of the drama unfolding on screen.

Undoubtedly the Frenchman’s most famous composition, this pulsating
beauty floated off the B1 of his 1976 LP and gently took the world under
its spell, quickly becoming an established part of our cultural
consciousness. Emerging from within the gossamer haze of some seriously
celestial frequencies that irresistible melody tugs at your heartstrings
and refuses to let go – not that you want it to. It’s simply perfect
from whichever way you look at it.

Jarre followed up the breakthrough success of Oxygen with his second classic LP, Equinoxe
two years later. Working to the same framework of recurring motifs,
symphonic structure and segued movements, the composer guides us on a
space age journey through nebulous textures and rhythmic sequences,
peaking with this iridescent and dynamic number, which dismayed UK
critics but delighted a global audience.

As a new decade got underway, Jarre hit upon a new sound, utilising
the revolutionary Fairlight CMI to introduce sampling and a whole new
sound palette into his sonic universe. More diverse than his previous
releases, Les Chants Magnétiques sees the producer dip into
synth pop, exotica and new age with far more emphasis on the beat than
ever before. On ‘Les Chants Magnétiques Part III’, Jarre takes a
minimalist approach to deliver a blissed-out fusion of dreamy synthscape
and organic, diasporic melody.

By 1981, Oxygen and Equinoxe had made their way
across the globe to China, proving so popular that Jarre became the
first Westerner invited to perform in the Republic. Alongside many of
his classic pieces Jarre included material specially composed for the
occasion in his setlist. Chief among these pieces is ‘Souvenir De
Chine’, a sublime arrangement of ambient pads, lithe bass and programmed
drums, punctuated by a masterful selection of found sounds and samples.
The emotional resonance and unique sound of the track saw it become an
end of night staple for both Bepe Loda and Daniele Baldelli, as well as a
sunset anthem for José Padilla at Café del Mar.

The first of two inclusions from Jarre’s kaleidoscopic pop masterpiece Zoolook,
‘Diva’ saw the French musician team up with avant-garde champion Laurie
Anderson for a head nodding, sometimes head scratching, vocal cut. The
American’s polylingual vocals are reversed, re-pitched, looped and
replayed as the track evolves from a noir-ish prelude into a defiantly
weird and warped groove, worthy of the most left-field dancefloors.

If I were given the chance to induct one fantasy genre to the Music
Hall of Fame, it would undoubtedly be Fairlight funk, and this little
beauty would soundtrack the ceremony. Tucked away neatly in the middle
of the B-side of Zoolook, ‘Blah-Blah Cafe’ is deranged dance
music at its best. Boasting a beat that sounds like a party in a balloon
factory, a sequence which sounds a lot like an FM synth talking about
vegetables, imitation brass and the occasional spinback, this wonky
wonder sounds a million miles away from Jarre’s earlier work and rivals
the best moments of Yello, YMO and Material.

While Jarre was working on his seventh studio album in 1986, he was
invited to perform a concert in Houston to commemorate both the 150th
anniversary of Texas and the 25th anniversary of the Lyndon B. Johnson
Space Center. Seizing the opportunity to do something truly
groundbreaking, Jarre reached out to astronaut and jazz saxophonist Ron
McNair for a collaboration, composing this synth and sax duet, with
McNair set to record his part from outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
Sadly, McNair was killed in the Challenger disaster, and this
beautifully mournful piece served as an epitaph instead of a
celebration.

After the soothing new age leanings of Rendez-Vous, Revolutions
saw Jarre taking his music to the shadows of the big city,
soundtracking the gritty dystopia of the urban sprawl through a series
of sombre compositions. This thumping dancefloor cut stood head and
shoulders above the industrial tone poems and dislocated synthscapes,
hinting at the experiments with trance which were to follow. Although
this original version saw him play fast and loose with copyright law,
re-appropriating Kudsi Erguner’s ney composition, mind-blowing
combination of Middle Eastern flute and rampant bass sequence delivers a
total knockout. Still sounding years ahead of its time, I’d imagine it
won’t be long before we hear this one reworked for an Acid Arab 12”.

Jean-Michel Jarre’s new collaborations will be released on vinyl
by The Vinyl Factory on 30th June. While the Massive Attack 12″ has
already sold out, you can still grab limited copies of the Tangerine Dream and Gesaffelstein collaborations from our online shop.

Foreword - Jean Michel Jarre

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The
latest offering by the master of the synthesiser, Jean Michel Jarre,
aims to take you on a journey through the final year of the 20th
century.

The
latest offering by the master of the synthesiser, Jean Michel Jarre,
aims to take you on a journey through the final year of the 20th
century. Recorded for Parisian label Disques Dreyfus, it's far removed
from the shiny synth classics Oxygene and Equinox
that soundtracked a thousand 80s nature documentaries. The album is
laced with acoustic instruments (a mix of live playing and samples)
placed over a backdrop of seamless ambient electronics and soft trip hop
grooves, with chilled jazzy undertones throughout.

Sessions 2000
contains 6 tracks recorded by Jarre and long term collaborator Francis
Rimbert, each one named after a specific day of the year. The album
opens with ''January 24th'' with a soundscape of bubbling, piano scaling
and fake double bass plucking that places you in the midst of a passing
rainstorm.

By ''March 23rd'', I
was surprisingly mesmerised and really loving the dispersed hail of
acoustic trumpeting sprayed over a lazily swaying groove, although I
felt this track slightly outstayed its welcome; after 8 minutes of
losing myself in the long spring grass I emerged feeling slightly hazy
and unbalanced.

''May 1st'' has to be
by far Jarre's finest day of the year (unfortunately the shortest track
on the album) with a soft pulsing backdrop underpinning a stunning piano
acoustic throughout, while the album tails off with the much more
subdued end of year offering that is ''December 17th''.

The whole album left me
feeling unbelievably serene, standing on the station platform in rush
hour listening through headphones I felt so unusually calm and
composed. It is the perfect remedy for dismissing the chaos around you,
although if you need the ability to concentrate throughout your day
then I suggest you file this album under the 'purely for lounge
listening' category.

The total number of page views

Jean Michel Jarre first came to international fame with his number one hit album, « OXYGENE » which went on to sell over 18 million copies worldwide.

A pioneer in his field, Jarre has largely contributed to the fastest growing musical revolution of the 20th century, electronic music : conceiving music in terms of sounds rather than only in terms of notes, and thus allowing the composer to become his own craftsman.

Having followed formal studies of harmony and counterpoint at the Conservatoire de Paris, he was inspired to reinvent music at its core, with his own singular vision, deploying the technology and tools of his epoch.

This pioneering approach gave birth to worldwide hit albums such as "OXYGENE","EQUINOXE", MAGNETIC FIELDS", "ZOOLOOK", "RENDEZVOUS", "WAITING FOR COUSTEAU"...over 80 million albums sold to date.

Following through with his revolution in music, he also conceived a brand-new genre and format of concerts; breaking away from the traditional theatre and arena context, Jarre brought his music and vision outdoors to the masses. Often free and open-to-all, these stateof- the-art concert-spectaculars showcase the natural or urban environment in which they are performed -- a truly singular sonic and visual "land-art" event, conceived and performed on a unique scale for a one-off experience.

Jarre's legendary concerts have attracted Guinness Record-breaking audiences across the planet. They take place in exceptional settings, marking extra-ordinary contexts: first western musician invited to perform in post-Mao Red China, Millennium at the Great Pyramids of Egypt, Houston City concert in collaboration with NASA in memory of the Challenger space crew, Concert for His Holiness Pope John Paul II, France's Eiffel Tower in celebration of World Cup victory, Gdansk's shipyard at the initiative of Nobel Peace Laureate Lech Walesa, London's Docklands, Beijing's Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the Sahara Desert...to the absolute record live audience of 3.5 million in Moscow.

Most recently, Jean Michel Jarre embarked on his first ever world tour which has already taken him to over 30 countries with over 220 performances.

July 2011, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco called upon Jean Michel Jarre to celebrate his Royal Wedding by creating and performing a concert-event in the Principality which was largely broadcast on television & Internet worldwide to an estimated audience of 3 billion.

The French musician has a dedicated ongoing engagement to the United Nations via UNESCO, as Ambassador and spokesperson for Environment and Education.